Jerry Summers

The defense for former Hamilton County Sheriff Billy Long is claiming the “manipulative personality” of the government’s confidential informant led Mr. Long to commit the crimes for which he stands to spend at least 10 years in prison.

To prove the point, Mr. Long’s attorney, Jerry Summers, has filed documents asking the U.S. District Court in Chattanooga to compel the Rev. Clarence Eugene Overstreet to undergo a psychological evaluation.

“We believe (Mr. Overstreet’s) background and record clearly indicates a person who has the ability to induce an individual to do things that they normally would not have done,” Mr. Summers said Monday after filing his motion with the court.

Mr. Summers points to a book Mr. Overstreet wrote after overcoming a cocaine addiction that he said demonstrates the manipulation of which he is capable.

Titled “From Pit to Pulpit,” the book states in its opening paragraph that “the drug dealer’s goal is to win you over so he can destroy your life.”

Mr. Overstreet, a longtime pastor and funeral home operator in Chattanooga, declined Monday night to comment on such an assessment of his personality.

Mr. Long pleaded guilty May 5 to 27 of 28 counts of extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking and firearm offenses, partly as a result of Mr. Overstreet’s cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation during several undercover stings earlier this year.

Mr. Overstreet previously had been convicted of a felony for writing worthless checks, but he said in an earlier interview with the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the FBI never paid for his services or gave him any special treatment for helping to bring Mr. Long down.

“I have suffered great loss for what I consider to be the right thing,” Mr. Overstreet said in the interview, noting his business had suffered greatly since he revealed his involvement in Mr. Long’s case.

Mr. Summers cautioned that his client is not seeking to diminish his responsibility for the crimes by asking for Mr. Overstreet’s psychological evaluation. Rather, they are asking the court to consider that the circumstances that led to the most serious drug charge amounted to “entrapment” and should be considered a mitigating factor when Mr. Long is sentenced.

Mr. Summers already has alleged on numerous occasions that the drug charge — possession of cocaine with intent to distribute — never would have come about had it not been for a “reverse sting” in which Mr. Overstreet and the government entrapped his client.

“We’re saying that except for continuous pressure or inducement by the government that those crimes would not have been as serious as they turned out to be,” Mr. Summers said.

The drug charge alone carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison. Mr. Summers plans also to argue that Mr. Long qualifies for the “safety valve,” a mechanism that can be used to get rid of the mandatory minimum aspect of a prison sentence when defendants meet certain criteria such as having no prior criminal history.

Mr. Long is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 18, a date that likely will change because Mr. Summers has said he has other business planned that day.

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